The school holidays are fast approaching and the winter polar blast has started to take hold here. So I’m in need of some easy indoor craft activities to keep the kids engaged and entertained.
My inspiration for my next set of crafts came from a traveling percussion duo. They’re going around teaching percussion in schools made out of all different upcycled materials. Their name was Kaboom Percussion. My kids came home looking for all sorts of different objects to bang away on. This lead us to exploring what instruments we could make at home with objects just lying around.
We found some paper plates and old pens that no longer worked and decided that we could make a Japanese Hand Drum which is called a Den-den Daiko.
This is an easy and fun activity to do with the kids and is suitable for all ages.
Make Your Own Japanese Hand Drum or Den-Den Daiko
What you need
2 paper bowls
Resene test pot in Scotty Silver
Star and dot sequins or glitter
Glitter glue
Pen that no longer works
Beads
Nuts and washers
Ribbon
Hot glue gun and glue
Stapler
What to do
1. Paint the outside of your bowls using Resene Scotty Silver.
2.While your paint is drying cut your ribbon to about 10cm and start by knotting one bead or washer onto the bottom of the ribbon, then add 3 or 4 more beads and washers.
3. When your paint is dry, use your hot gule to glue your pen to the bottom of one side of your plate.
4. Then glue the ribbons to each side of your plate.
5.Now staple the two plates together. At this stage you could add more hot glue around the pend and bottom of the plate, you could also use duct tape, or similar to tape the plate to the pen. It just depends on how long you want the drum to last.
6. Paint one face of the drum with glitter glue and attach your star and spot sequins.
If you want to put glitter glue on both sides, you just need to wait until the first face dries this could take a couple of hours or so.
All you need to do once it’s all dry is play it by spinning the pen back and forth in your hands. It makes a great sound!
If you enjoyed making this craft, be sure to check out hundreds of other craft ideas for school aged kids.
